Reposted by Aran Ward SellAran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 28/09/2026en passant, something that fascinates me about the Vonnegut quote is: one of the things he does while out buying an envelope is "see some great looking babes," but the internet cosiness industry has de-hornified this to "great looking babies" in the most commonly circulated version. 101
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 28/09/2026en passant, something that fascinates me about the Vonnegut quote is: one of the things he does while out buying an envelope is "see some great looking babes," but the internet cosiness industry has de-hornified this to "great looking babies" in the most commonly circulated version. 101
Reposted by Aran Ward SellAnna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 27/09/2026"Automatization eats things, clothes, furniture, your wife, and the fear of war. This thing we call art exists in order to restore the sensation of life, in order to make us feel things, to make a stone stony. The goal of art is to create the sensation of seeing, not merely recognizing, things. 24310
Reposted by Aran Ward Sellleon @leyawn.bsky.social · 24/09/2026ceo of burger king: our burgers have gone rogue again and infected people with e coli 5256181275
Reposted by Aran Ward SellTom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 21/09/2026You have to realise that it's unreasonable and implausible to achieve Net Zero, we should instead consider practical ideas, like dimming the sun? 1112022
Reposted by Aran Ward Sellsean guynes @guynes.bsky.social · 18/09/2026I also had the pleasure of getting @aranws.bsky.social to write about the novel, its legacy, and its "failures" for LARB.lareviewofbooks.orgThe Kingdom in His Head | Los Angeles Review of BooksAran Ward Sell reconsiders the legacy and complex overlapping ‘failures’ of Mervyn Peake’s final novel, ‘Titus Alone.’ 031
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Same (but three-time alumnus and several-times past employee). So sad for former colleagues and today's students that an institution we're all desperate to be proud of is behaving so abysmally. 052
Reposted by Aran Ward SellCharlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Genuinely cannot believe this tone from a VC who has just announced that hundreds of jobs are going to be lost 511220
Reposted by Aran Ward SellJosh Pizzuto-Pomaco @joshpizpom.bsky.social · 17/09/2026EXC: 90 programmes in Edinburgh University's College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences are to be closed. The casualties, which include 48 language and literature programmes, will be 'taught out', w/ no admissions after 2027. @heraldscotland.bsky.social www.heraldscotland.com/news/2655839...heraldscotland.comNinety programmes to close at leading university as savings plan takes shapeAccording to the document, a total of 90 programmes will be “taught out” over the next several years, including 48 in the School of Language. 17111150
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 10/09/2026For easy viewing, as the link hasn't loaded a preview image: 010
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Oh, this is very affirming to see: my monograph has a webpage! press.syr.edu/supressbooks... $110 apparently. You should probably all go and preorder it.press.syr.eduStreams of Damaged Consciousness – Syracuse University Press 140
Reposted by Aran Ward SellEdinburghMinute.com @edinburghminute.com · 10/09/2026Devastating news. Sending solidarity to the team at The Skinny. Every print edition of every newspaper and magazine is a huge effort, so 20 years is an achievement to be proud of. But this is a huge loss for independent journalism in Scotland. Hopefully the team find work soon. 0267
Reposted by Aran Ward SellAncillary Review of Books @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org · 09/09/2026Tales from the Interregnum: @aranws.bsky.social reviews MONSTER CAPITAL: TALES OF MODERN UNEASE, edited by Ra Page & David Sue (@commapress.bsky.social)ancillaryreviewofbooks.orgTales from the Interregnum: Review of Monster CapitalAran Ward Sell Under Review:Monster Capital: Tales of Modern Unease. Edited by Ra Page & David Sue. Comma Press, June 2026. The late Mark Fisher is increasingly revered as a modern prophet. He … 065
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 09/09/2026A joy to make my Ancillary Review debut reviewing this spooky, Fishery little number! 082
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 19/08/2026Re full dimensions, could be fun to put something pulpy like George R R Martin's "The House of the Worm" alongside, say, Leonora Carrington's surrealist bent. Or to throw in non-prose fiction: an episode of True Detective, Twin Peaks, Welcome to Night Vale. 001
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 19/08/2026Thanks for tagging! I see you have Great God Pan recommended in the other thread. I'd be tempted to add something like The Yellow Wallpaper that is usually parsed as Literary rather than Genre, to probe the contingency of that divide (is Weird a set of tropes or an affect, etc) 100
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 29/07/2026Packing hack: instead of 15 books, just bring You Dreamed of Empires and re-read it 14 times. It's that good. (As I also expressed here: strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/... )strangehorizons.comYou Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue, translated by Natasha WimmerThis is a novel that seethes with impossible visions, willful anachronisms, and ultimately invented events that contradict historical fact. 000
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 25/07/2026I just read Oisín Fagan's Eden's Shore and strongly recommend it! I'm excited for Said the Dead but haven't read it yet. Not sure about collections -- I'll reply again if anything occurs to me. 110
Reposted by Aran Ward SellAnakana Schofield @anakanaschofield.bsky.social · 25/07/2026I’m in the paper today hailing the workers and calling the developers monstrous. My work is done here. I can live out my final naps in a cat basket vancouversun.com/entertainmen...vancouversun.comLibrary of Brothel brings readers into a surreal wonderfully analog world of colourful charactersHuman connection and the right to meaningful work frames new Anakana Schofield novel. 172
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 25/07/2026Very excellent selection! I've been evangelising about Earlie King since it came out 120
Reposted by Aran Ward Sellsean guynes @guynes.bsky.social · 09/07/2026And, as a bonus, I had the opportunity to commission @aranws.bsky.social's peice on the "failures" and legacy of Titus Alone, which is just as fascinating a novel as the other two:lareviewofbooks.orgThe Kingdom in His Head | Los Angeles Review of BooksAran Ward Sell reconsiders the legacy and complex overlapping ‘failures’ of Mervyn Peake’s final novel, ‘Titus Alone.’ 031
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 02/07/2026The absolute joy of Speakeing is that you get to use his illustrations on the Powerpoint slides, immediately rendering them the best Powerpoint slides I will ever make. 010
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 02/07/2026(S)peakeing about Peake again today, this time at MSA/BAMS Loughborough. Make it along if you can! If you can't it's basically this essay but out loud! @modernistudies.bsky.social @moderniststudies.bsky.social lareviewofbooks.org/article/titu...lareviewofbooks.orgThe Kingdom in His Head | Los Angeles Review of BooksAran Ward Sell reconsiders the legacy and complex overlapping ‘failures’ of Mervyn Peake’s final novel, ‘Titus Alone.’ 152
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 16/06/2026Moved to the USA in January '24. Leaving the USA this week. Hell of a ride. reasonstoremain.co.uk/2026/06/16/t...reasonstoremain.co.ukThe General III’m sitting in a coffee shop called The General, in South Bend, Indiana. It’s June 2026. It’s over two years since I wrote this. I no longer live up the hill, in an apartment called The Hill.… 000
Reposted by Aran Ward SellAncillary Review of Books @ancillaryreviewofbooks.org · 05/05/2026Fantastic news! With a week left to go, we've hit our first stretch goal for ARB's fundraiser! Thank you to everyone who's chipped in and/or helped spread the word; let's see how far we can get in our final week! Rewards and more still available:kickstarter.comAncillary Review of Books: Year 7!Questioning power, imagining possibility: ARB provides thoughtful criticism of speculative fiction. Help us pay our writers and staff! 03127
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 05/05/2026Meanwhile the US coverage has ...Tom Hiddleston being bullied into teaching Jamie Carragher how to moonwalk. Tbf to Hiddleston he clearly thinks it's fucking ridiculous and wants to talk about the football. 100
Reposted by Aran Ward SellArsenal FC @arsenalfc.bsky.social · 05/05/2026CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINALISTS ❤️ 16959235
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 26/04/2026...you inserted yourself into this comment thread, though. Do you often attend meetings just to put your hand up and say you shouldn't have to be there? 0250
Reposted by Aran Ward SellMet (C) 🏆 @afcmet.bsky.social · 25/04/2026I just don’t know how you in this instance get your pass intercepted 1715514
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 25/04/2026He's our most infuriating player since Zinchenko On A Bad Day. (Sterling doesn't count, he just made me feel sad) 000
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 25/04/2026At this stage of the season...that's fine? He's played his way out of the team, he doesn't need his feelings saved. 210
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 25/04/2026Hate the Havertz injury so much, but I wish we'd put Trossard or Jesus on instead of Gyökeres. Someone who can maintain Kai's role in the passing patterns with Eze and Ødegaard. 120
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 20/04/2026Recently read one of yours for the first time and it is🤌🤌🤌 1110
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 20/04/2026I'd put him alongside or above Saliba, Rice and Ode as a level-raiser, and more immediate than any of those. Sadly in his case the raise was temporary rather than sustained. 000
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 20/04/2026Broadly agree, though I'd posit Jesus was a great signing whose knee unfortunately then imploded. 110
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 17/04/2026Find it remarkable how unlikely my 2199 clones are to vote Green, a party of government in Scotland as recently as 2024. 100
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 16/04/2026Polling really is just name recognition eh. Justice for Allosaurus. I think -- and would be genuinely fascinated to know -- that Diplodocus would score significantly higher in the UK, due to the former star exhibit of the London Natural History Museum. 000
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 11/04/2026Kai in the 10 plays as a striker, which weakens the midfield build up, but also frees Gyök up to run into the left channel rather than just stand on a centre half. Would be nice if there was a way to have both! 000
Reposted by Aran Ward Sellsean guynes @guynes.bsky.social · 05/04/2026"You did it! You crazy son of a bitch, you did it!" An essay in which I write about James Gurney's illustrated utopian adventure fiction novel DINOTOPIA: A LAND APART FROM TIME and tell you why it's pretty fucking awesome. Plus, images of lots of Gurney's art, including his sff covers from the 80s!seanguynes.comReading “Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time” by James Gurney (Dinotopia 1)James Gurney’s Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time (1992) is an incredible illustrated utopian novel of an adventurer’s arrival and education in a land where dinosaurs and humans live sid… 87030
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 07/04/2026LOVE this. As a Dinosaur Child of the era, I think Dinotopia baffled me by being *so* beautifully painted. It seemed to exist a bit too much for something so richly wondrous. 010
Reposted by Aran Ward SellDevin Nunes' Alt-Mom @nunesalt.bsky.social · 28/03/2026We must act before the sharks become venture capitalists. www.wdef.com/cocaine-caff...wdef.comCocaine, caffeine and painkillers consumed by sharks in Bahamas, study finds - WDEFSharks in the Bahamas are consuming substances including caffeine, painkillers and even cocaine, according to a new study by marine scientists who say it could potentially impact the animals' health a... 57931210
Aran Ward Sell @aranws.bsky.social · 30/03/2026The phrase "stick a fork in me, I'm done" expresses the ethos of sceptical inquiry: the listener is not invited to believe the speaker's central assertion, but to immediately test it for themselves. 000
Reposted by Aran Ward SellUniversities Committee for Scottish Literature @studyscotlit.bsky.social · 17/03/2026Exciting ScotLit opportunity for someone! 024